A hacking group has broken into one of the biggest image hosting websites on the net before uploading its manifesto.

"Anti-Sec" broke into ImageShack to post a protest over sites that publish full disclosure material on security vulnerabilities, though how the attack furthers this agenda is unclear. The group, which also attacked the websites of astalavista.com last month, pledged to cause further "mayhem and destruction" against supporters of full disclosure, which it argues benefits security firms and cybercrooks at the expense of the wider community.

Ironically, exploit code associated with Anti-Sec's latest attack was posted on a full disclosure mailing list.

Anti-Sec’s proposed program of action calls for "eliminating the security industry in its present form". Security blogs or exploit-related websites who support full-disclosure were warned to brace themselves for attack.

Security firms were quick to pick apart the group's arguments. Rik Ferguson, a security consultant at Trend Micro, said the group fails to acknowledge that full disclosure allows security organisations to "mitigate against attacks before they are exploited in the wild". It also ignores the point that cybercrooks often profit from undisclosed vulnerabilities.

Ferguson compares the group to the "wacky end of the survivalist movement... heading for the hills with their tins of beans and their AK-47s (and now SQLi [SQL injection - a common website exploit technique])."

ImageShack, which was hit by the defacement late on Friday, restored its service to normal over the weekend.